National frameworks to address hate crime in Belgium
This page provides information on the national frameworks to address hate crime in Belgium. The information provided here should be viewed alongside data presented on Belgium's hate crime report page.
Hate crime recording and data collection
Hate crimes are not defined in Belgian legislation, therefore no code exists to record them as such. Any violation of non-discrimination laws that constitutes a criminal offence is generally recorded as "hate/discrimination" by the police or the prosecutor's office. The databases of the police or the prosecutor's offices do not specify whether the incident is a hate crime or consists of discrimination.
The recording of discrimination and hate crimes is based on instructions that are published in the joint circular COL 13/2013. It provides a policy framework to combat discrimination and hate crimes for police forces and public prosecutors. "Hate crimes' are registered in the data processing systems ("ISLP" for most local Police districts and "FEEDIS" for most entities of the Federal Police).
With the entry into force of the new version of COL 13/2013, the encoding rules have been completely revised. One of the aims is to provide statistics in the context of hate crimes, including details of the discriminatory motive. The revised COL 13/2013 circular contains specific elements concerning the improvement and expansion of the police registrations. These new features were activated in police applications at the end of April 2024.
In Belgium, prosecuting hate crimes relies on certain criteria protected by law. It is essential to identify specific phenomena in relation to these criteria in order to effectively identify hate crimes. The phenomena identified are: “racism”, “religion”, “sexism”, “transphobia”, “homophobia” and “disability”. An additional phenomenon, “other”, is used to record incidents that do not correspond to the defined phenomena. These various motives are incorporated into the registration systems of the Belgian Police. When the police detect indicators of a possible discriminatory motive for a “hate crime” offence, they prepare a report indexed according to the main offence in the usual list of fact codes (“QLF”) and record the appropriate “mention parquet” phenomenon at the beginning of the report. For example, intentional assault and battery committed with a racist motive against a black person result in a police report indexed as 43 (offence of assault and battery) with the mention parquet “motif haine/discrimination racisme: afrophobie”. When recorded by the police, it will read “hate/discrimination motive. racism: afrophobia”. If multiple discriminatory phenomena (‘intersectional’ discrimination) are present, the police officer will, as far as possible, select the one(s) that best correspond to the perpetrator's motive.
The Prosecutor's Office, for its part, works with a prevention code and a ‘context TAG’. The data is recorded in the MACH/JUSTONE system. This tool allows several ‘context TAGs’ to be selected. Accordingly, all relevant ones are recorded in cases where multiple elements are present.
The magistrate to whom the report is submitted checks to see whether the prevention corresponding to the main event (for example 43A for assault and battery) is correct. The magistrate then checks whether the context TAG that appears in JUSTONE is the correct context TAG (for example, “Col13/2013 Motif haine/discrim. Racisme : afrophobie”) from the list of context TAGs. If the police service makes an error or forgets, the magistrate can select and record the correct context TAG.
Statistical data concerning discrimination are collected and provided by the College of Prosecutors-General based on the REA/TPI system or the IT-system "MaCH" used by the public prosecution.
Further, Belgium's equality body 'Unia' records hate crime cases and collects data on hate crimes. The data are sorted by discrimination criteria (including sexual orientation, racial characteristics, disability, etc.), social areas (life in society, employment, police and justice, goods and services, etc.) and by the nature of the offences.
The Institute for the Equality between Women and Men is the equality body responsible for gender and gender-related crime. Victims of gender-based hate crimes can make a report to the Institute to get legal advice. The Institute records all of the reports it receives in its own database. Figures are compiled in a publicly available annual report to assess the prevalence of these phenomena. The recent report is available online in French and in Dutch.
There is no information sharing agreement between local police forces and civil society organizations (CSOs) or between local police forces and Unia. However, Unia works with the police and CSOs on notices and recommendations. Some police zones focus on sharing contacts with various stakeholders of victimized groups. There is a co-operation set up between Brussels-Capital Region and LGBTQIA+ organization RainbowHouse Brussels on the collection of data on violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. The competent Brussels public service - safe.brussels - analyses and publishes the collected data.
Hate crime victim support
Under Belgian law, victims of hate crimes do not have a particular status, rights, or entitlements different from victims of other crimes. Special status is only provided for some categories of victims, such as victims of terrorism and juvenile victims. Under anti-discrimination legislation, victims of discrimination outside the workplace, including hate crimes, are entitled to compensation for the harm they have suffered.
When a victim reports a hate crime to the police, police officers are required to offer practical assistance and information, prepare official reports and refer the victim to the appropriate unit. The attending police officer is obliged to ask the victim if they would like the support of a specialized police victim service called "Service d’Assistance policière aux Victimes (S.A.P.V)". In emergencies, the attending police team automatically requests these specialized services. These police victim support services offer assistance and psychological support at the time of the incident and immediately afterwards. They can also provide practical help with various administrative procedures. As they are front-line services, the assistance provided is short-term, and they provide referrals to specialized services, such as judicial and independent victim support services.
The police have standards in place on the sensitive treatment of victims of hate crimes, as well as policies on the investigation and prosecution of discrimination and hate crime cases. In some police districts, police officers use checklists to identify whether the act constitutes a hate crime. Some police districts provide template questionnaires to standardize interviews with the victim, witnesses and suspects. The police force of Ghent has a special desk for reporting hate crimes that co-operate with the public prosecutor's office, city services, specialized services such as UNIA and the Federal Institute for Human Rights (FIRM), which has led to an increase in the number of reports within the police zone of Ghent. Brussels-North police zone has set up a specific e-mail address for victims wishing to report discrimination or hate crimes. This contact point facilitates direct access for victims to police officers who have received specialized training from UNIA in handling offences of this nature. Victims are offered medical, legal and psychological assistance in Brussels.
Victims of hate crimes can also report the incident to UNIA or to the Institute for Equality of Women and Men, depending on the case. These equality bodies provide information on the legislation and other legal assistance, accompany the victim during a reconciliation or negotiation procedure, and can also refer the victim to specialized social or legal services or organizations.
Judicial victim support services, in collaboration with the public prosecutor's office, offer victims and their relatives specialized assistance related to the judicial procedure. Their missions are to inform, assist and accompany victims during the criminal proceedings. The justice assistants of these services can provide victims or their relatives with specific information regarding their individual penal case, during the entire judicial procedure, from the complaint to the (conditional) release of the offender. They can offer necessary support during this procedure (for instance: guiding a victim when given insight into the criminal file, supporting the victim when personal belongings which have been subject to investigation are handed back, supporting the victim during the proceedings before the court). They can also refer victims to other, specialized services or organizations (such as psychosocial or legal help).
The intervention of the services of judicial victim support is free of charge. There is one judicial victim support service per judicial district. The services of judicial victim support are part of the so-called houses of justice (of which there are 13 in the French Community, 14 in the Flemish Community and 1 in the German-speaking Community).
There are Victim support services organized by the three communities of Belgium: General Welfare Centres (Centra Algemeen Welzijnswerk) in the Flemish Community, "Services d’aide aux victims" in the French Community and specialized services for victim support ("Spezialisierte Dienste für Opferhilfe") in the German-speaking Community. The general mission of victim support services is to provide social and psychological assistance to victims of crime and their relatives. These support services are independent of the police and judicial authorities. These services provide free social support aimed at restoring the living conditions of the victim and support the victim in various matters (e.g., interactions with police and insurance companies, etc.). They also provide psychological support tailored to the victims' needs to help them find a new life balance. This support can be short-term or long-term, depending on the needs of the victim. When the victim wishes so, they can be accompanied by a representative of the service for certain steps (e.g., visits to a doctor or police station). When needed, the victim is referred to more specialized organizations (e.g., for psychotherapeutic support).
Several civil society organizations (CSOs) support victims of hate crime, including the Collective against Islamophobia in Belgium (CIIB), LGBTQIA+ organizations running "Rainbow Houses", and Jewish community associations. These organizations accompany victims of hate crime and encourage them to file a complaint and seek support. In general, the work of CSOs is not formally integrated into the overall system of assistance to hate crime victims, although some CSOs have partnered with UNIA. CSOs do not have structural subsidies to hire people to sustain their services and often rely on the help of volunteers.
Hate crime capacity building
Police officers take part in training courses on hate crime. These training courses are intended to make police officers aware of possible unconscious biases and the serious consequences that these biases can have for both the public they serve and their colleagues.
Basic training for reference officers under COL 13/2013 (the joint circular for police forces and public prosecutors on the investigation and prosecution policy regarding discrimination and hate crimes) is provided regularly to new reference officers. It is updated according to the recommendations of the study of the National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology on under-reporting and dismissal of discrimination offences (2020). This training is provided on a regular basis in co-operation with the equality body UNIA and the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men.
The Coordinating Director (DirCo) from the Federal Police is informed about training on discrimination in every police zone. Charleroi police zone, together with UNIA, the Institute for the Equality between Women and Men and Rainbow Cops have created a tool (a poster and folder with materials that combat hate crimes) available for all police zones in Belgium.
The Belgian Judicial Training Institute (IGO-IFJ) is responsible for the training of reference magistrates and court staff. The magistrate in charge of each public prosecutor's office and each auditor's office have to take the basic training course organized by the IFJ. The magistrate in charge of each public prosecutor's office should also take the in-depth training course on combating hate crime organized by the IFJ. Col13/2013 also recommends that the magistrates, lawyers and criminologists likely to handle or assist in the handling of discrimination cases within each public prosecutor's office and labour audit OFFICE should also follow the basic training. The Institute organizes a specialized training course on discrimination and hate crimes on an annual basis. The training is mandatory for the Belgian judicial trainees of the second year (future judges and prosecutors) and open to all interested magistrates. It was developed in collaboration with UNIA (the Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities) and the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men.
A specialized training session on hate crimes and discrimination was organized in 2015 and 2017 and was open to all magistrates and judicial assistants of the public prosecutor's office and courts office. A new edition of the training session is currently in development, and will aim to deepen participants' knowledge of hate speech and hate crimes.
A training session on diversity in the courtroom provides an overview of how representations, prejudices and stereotypes can indirectly influence the judicial process. The training session has been organized since 2020 and is open to all interested judges.
Belgian judicial trainees visit the Kazerne Dossin (Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on the Holocaust and Human Rights in Mechelen) together with judicial trainees from other EU Member States taking part in the AIAKOS programme (an exchange programme for judicial trainees in Europe). In Belgium, participation in the AIAKOS programme is obligatory for all judicial trainees.